Ohio Politics Explained: Violence in youth prisons and Democratic fundraising woes
Ohio's youth prisons struggle with violence. Republicans are outraising Democrats for statehouse seats, and lawmakers still have a "mountain" of federal COVID relief dollars left to spend.
We break down what it all means on this week's episode of Ohio Politics Explained.
It's a podcast from the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau where we catch you up on the state's political news in 15 minutes or less. This week, host Anna Staver was joined by reporter Laura Bischoff.
1) Violence in Ohio's youth prisons
A months-long investigation by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau found that the state's youth prison system is struggling with attacks on staff, fights among the incarcerated children, sexual assaults and staff departures.
And these shortcomings can have real consequences. Prison guards have been hospitalized and officers had been sleeping on the job the night Robert Wright died.
An internal investigation into Wright's August 2020 death found that failure to conduct rounds could have contributed to the 17-year-old's death. Staff was also found to be slow to respond and summon medical attention once they found him unresponsive.
2) Abortion and lame duck
Ohio Republicans were expected to pass a bill that banned abortions from conception before the end of 2022, but that might not be happening anymore.
Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he's working on making Ohio more accommodating for pregnant people and defining life of the mother exemptions in the state's current law.
But whether overall restrictions get "extended all the way out to whatever we would define as conception, that remains to be seen at the moment," he said.
3) Mountains of COVID cash
Ohio has spent about $16 billion of the $26 billion the state received in federal COVID-19 relief dollars.
The state has used that money to pay off a $1.47 billion loan to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic, $300 million for a water reclamation plant on the Intel project, and $3.8 billion for direct pandemic assistance like testing supplies, assistance to nursing homes, libraries, local governments, and universities.
4) State Senate Republicans outraise Democrats
Republicans have raised substantially more money for the 17 state Senate races up this year than their Democratic counterparts.
The Republican Senate Campaign Committee had $4.4 million to spend as of its last filing while Ohio Senate Democrats had $146,000.
"That's sadly life in a gerrymandered system," former Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper said. "If you are guaranteed to be in the majority, of course, you’re going to get the donations. People are going to want to give to the person in power."
Listen to "Ohio Politics Explained" on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts and TuneIn Radio. The episode is also available by clicking the link in this article.
The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau serves The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Explained: Violence in youth prisons, Democratic fundraising woes
